Her Decision, Her Choice
by fishm0i
Summary: All Jill wanted to do is to mend her broken heart and start life anew at her late parents' ranch together with her sister. Along the way she met the town's local farmer, Marlin. Will she be able to open her heart again to someone new? And what would she do, when her ex-husband returned to win her heart back again? And who will she choose? Rated T [Marlin x Jill]
1. Prologue

She thought that fairytale stories are true after all about happily ever after.

She thought that she is happily married to the man that she loved.

She thought that they would have a child or two together, watching them grow, watching them being success and getting married.

She thought that she would grow old together with him, hand in hand walking in the park.

But she was wrong.

She should have known something was going on the moment she saw lipstick stain on her husband's shirt collar, and also the scent of Chanel No. 5 perfume – which she found it a few weeks ago tucked inside his coat and thinking it might be wedding anniversary surprise gift.

She silently chuckled as she tucked the perfume back into his coat and pretended that nothing had happened, hoping for their wedding anniversary to come very soon. Their wedding anniversary came, and she excitedly leaving work early to go home to prepare for their 3rd wedding anniversary.

On the way home she stopped by the wine store, picking out his favourite red wine. She then again dropped by the men's clothing store, picking out a grey colour silk tie – which she thought it fitted his working suit well.

She was in a very joyous mood; as she hummed into her favourite tune while her fingers were tapping on the wheel. Occasionally, she would take a look at her wedding band and smile contentedly to herself.

She didn't expect him to be home this early, as she spotted his black SUV parked at the front garage. Another smiled planted on her face as she got off her SUV, with all the shopping goods in her hand and headed to the front door.

There's no one sight at the living room, but a bouquet of her favourite lilies was on the coffee table. She smiled again and quietly putting down the shopping goods on the living room, wanting to tiptoe upstairs to surprise her husband.

She suddenly paused from her footsteps as she caught the sight of a red pump lying at the bottom of the staircase. The smile on her face had faded, and then she spotted the other side of the red pump.

All kinds of thoughts flooded her mind, as she climbed up the staircase in a trembling manner while finding the trail of a woman's and her husband's clothes along the way and finally stopped at their slightly opened bedroom door.

Her hands were trembling as she tried her to force her hands onto the doorknob, but paused again at the familiar voice of a woman. Biting her lower lip, she carefully pushed the slightly opened door to find a scene she refused to accept.

Instead of barging in, she decided to quietly leave the house. As tears falling down her cheeks, she forced herself to march down the stairs and leave the house and headed back into her own SUV and started the engine.

She doesn't remember how long she had drove; or how many incoming calls by her husband she had ignored. She could not control the tears that were streaming down her cheeks; she could not even bothered by how other drivers reacted as she was sobbing behind the wheel.

She found herself driving up to the beach. Bittersweet memories began flooding in as she climbed out of the car and walked towards the beach. She had herself sat onto the sand, as her eyes staring across the sea. The sea breeze felt extra colder today, as she hugged her knees to keep herself a little warm.

She remembered that Michael would always brought her here to enjoy the sea breeze whenever she was sad and said this is a secret spot of his that she was the first one to know. This is the place where they shared their first kiss; this is also the place where he proposed to her. Tears uncontrollably fell again as she thought back about their sweetest time together as she buried her face between her knees.

She knew that he would find her here, because this was the only place she would be if she went missing. He quietly walked behind her and placed his coat around her and quietly sat down right behind her without saying a word until she was ready to go home.

She did not throw a fit at him at all, or started yelling or kicking or hitting him, but quietly got up and walked towards her car and sat at the passenger seat. He later followed suit, quietly taking the driver's seat and drove them both home.

The whole journey was quiet to death, as he did not dare to breathe a word while all she did was staring blankly outside of the car with her swollen red eyes. Upon reaching home, she directly climbed up the staircase like a zombie and headed straight for the guest room.

She could not sleep back into their bed once again after seeing Imelda on it. Yes, the one and only Imelda - her very best friend since college. She was choked with tears again as she hid herself under the blanket, remembering how Imelda had spotted her at the doorway and giving her the devilish smile that sent chill down her spine.

For the coming next few weeks, she had not spoken a single word to Michael and so was Michael. She still did the daily routine of cooking and cleaning and also going to work as usual. She would slap on a fake smile to her colleagues at work every day.

At times she would intentionally coming home late, just hoping that Michael would go to bed first or would be in his study – but he would always be at the living room waiting until she returned home and retreated to the guest room, and she could not understand why he would do so.

She took a week long off, hiding under the covers while ignoring Michael's knocks on the door. She thought to herself for a very long time and consideration before entering Michael's study and dropped the bomb.

"Let's get a divorce."

Michael was too surprised to speak, but eventually agreed on her request. Maybe, she thought to herself, that the only thing he could do now is to agree with whatever she wanted.

Her divorce had reached to her sister Claire's ears, who rushed over to the city with Griffin to accompany her to the courthouse to finalise the papers. Being a feisty elder sister, Claire gave a tight, hard slap on Michael's face.

Michael took it without further complaint, as guilt written all over his face as he could only watch her packed up her things with her sister and left the house. She sold her car, resigned from her job, and decided to return to Forget-Me-Not Valley for good.

Forget-Me-Not Valley, it's been many years since her last return. She thought of the old days that she was helping her late parents growing crops, brushing the animals and collecting eggs from chickens and ducks as a little girl. She smiled at the thought of it.

Her sister noticed her smile from the rear mirror and turned around to check on her as she returned her with another smile. Jill sighed, as she stared outside of the car as the sight of Forget-Me-Not Valley was getting nearer.

Another last tear fall down her cheek, and she swore to herself to close her heart forever from getting another broken heart.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Oops, a little too long for a Prologue eh? I hope you guys liked it. As my command in English is not very good, I appreciated it very much if someone could check on my grammar or sentence mistake I might had missed out. Last but not least, Happy Reading. :)


	2. Chapter 1

"Thank you Griffin, you are such a dear." Jill tiptoed her feet to hug the bartender after he had done loading her suitcases in her room.

"Aww, it's nothing really." Griffin returned her hug while giving a comfort pat at her back. "Good to have you back, kiddo."

"Why thank you, brother bear dearest." Jill patted his butt affectionately. "You are always the best."

Griffin had always been like a big brother to Claire and Jill ever since their parents passed away when they were little. Claire was then 10, while Jill was 8. Griffin was then 20. But Jill do know very well how Griffin felt for her sister – actually the whole town knows, it was just Claire being dense.

"Enough with the cheesiness you two," Claire appeared at the door interrupting the both of them. "Takakura is preparing a feast for us all; I even called Celia, Muffy and Lumina over."

Jill perked up as the names of her childhood friends were mentioned. It's been so many years since she last saw them ever since she moved to the city.

"Well, go and take a nice bath and change into something nice," Claire smiled warmly at her sister. "And you," pointing her finger towards the bartender, "come and help me with the shipments. I had two hours left for Thomas to pick them up."

"Yes Ma'am!" Griffin gave Claire a salute as the blonde just rolled her eyes and leave the room. Before he could leave the room, Jill stopped him by pulling his shirt's sleeve.

"So, any progresses yet?" Jill asked.

"What progress?"

"Sigh, I see you have yet to capture my sister's heart then." Jill sighed as she let go of her grasp on his sleeve. Griffin let out an "ah" as if he understood what she meant.

"About that," Griffin let out a foolish grin while scratching his head, "I actually asked her out with me on Fireworks Festival for the past few weeks and she finally agreed to it."

Before Jill could pressure him for further details, a loud yell came from outside the farmhouse that Griffin had no choice but to leave the farmhouse.

"Well, hurry up and unpack your stuffs and clean up." Griffin smiled as he ruffled her hair as she groaned with annoyance. She hates it everytime he does that. "Gotta' help your sister out or else she might change her mind going to the Fireworks Festival with me."

Jill giggled as Griffin gave her a playful wink before heading out of the farmhouse. Jill took a good look around her old bedroom before walking towards the window seat and found her favourite spot.

She saw Griffin helped Claire loaded boxes of corns and tomatoes into the shipping bin, while Claire chased their pet dog Pickles for scaring the chickens and ducks near the pond. Chloe the Bengal was enjoying her nap under the apple tree, not affected by Claire's shouting.

"Well, time to unpack." Jill sighed as she got up from the window seat and started unzipping the suitcases one by one, removing the contents from them.

As Jill previously worked as a fashion editor for Dazed Magazine, she received many limited edition designs and merchandises from lots of well-known designers in New York which she was unable to refuse because of their insistence.

Maybe I can give some of these to the girls later, Jill thought to herself while emptying out her final suitcase. As she got up from the wooden floor, an envelope fell off from one of her favourite pastel blue dress.

Curious and wondered, Jill picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside the envelope was a lovely sapphire stone ring along with a letter – from Michael. Holding in her breath, she opened the letter with her trembling hands:

_My Darling Jill,_

_It's shameful for me to call you Darling again, but I promised this would be the last in this letter. I'm sorry, Darling. I'm really, really sorry to you._

_No matter how sorry I am, how I tried to explain things to you, even if you had forgiven me, it is a reality that the both of us would not get back together. We will never grow old together as I had promised you. I cried and regretted it to myself._

_As a departure for the both of us, please accept this ring, for I had it prepared as a surprise for you for our wedding anniversary, but… There is nothing else I could say but only wishing you happiness, and forever smiling, without getting hurt anymore._

_I love you, and I'm sorry._

_Michael_

Clutching the letter and ring near her to chest, she broke down into tears. Not wanting to let her sister or Griffin heard her. She slid herself at the side of her bed, trying to hold in her tears but they were uncontrollable.

She doesn't remember how long she had cried until she heard Claire greeted Thomas goodbye and entering the farmhouse, she quickly wiped her tears and stuffed the letter alongside with the ring into the drawers of the bedside table.

"Jill, how are you doing up there?" Claire's voice came from the staircase as Jill held back her tears. "Do you need any help?"

"Oh, I'm fine and I just done unpacking," trying to sound as normal as she can, she replied back her sister. "I'm going for a shower now and be down soon so don't bother coming up."

"Alright, alright, you and your many demands," Claire laughed as Jill held a long breath, telling herself to calm down. "Well, we'll be waiting for you down here. Takakura is going to make your favourite gratin and pot stickers."

"O-Okay," Jill replied and waited until her sister's voice could no longer be heard, she let out a deep sigh and had her eyes set back to the drawers where she had hid the letter and the ring.

"Why are you doing this to me," Jill muttered to herself as she opened the drawers, revealing the ring as well as the slightly crumpled letter. "Why…"

She took out the letter, crumpled it up and threw it into the nearby wastepaper basket. She didn't have the need to keep this letter, why should she?

Michael is over, marriage life is over. She needed to get back to her own feet and live as the happy, hardworking Jill she used to be. This is what she promised herself.

She found her heart betraying her again, as she was still holding the ring in her hand – unable to drop it into the wastepaper basket.

Staring back at the ring for a long time, she slipped the ring back to where she had it hidden, and headed for the bathroom.

* * *

"I'm not going to lie to you Celia," Marlin said as he looked at the girl for head to toes. "Go and clean yourself up before you go to the ranch, you really smell like a pile of dung now."

"Say that to your ownself too," Celia muttered as she took a slight smell from her clothes and looked disgusted. "Eww, I seriously need a good scrub."

"Both of you need a good scrub," one of the regular customers, Galen chuckled. "The smell is seriously unbearable!"

"You can leave the store now and go clean up," Vesta gestured Celia out of the door. "Marlin, please help me carry those sacks of fertilizer to the warehouse."

"Why on earth did you order so much of these piles of _dung_?" Marlin complained but let out a yelp when his sister slapped him hard at the back. "What the hell is that for?!"

"To stop you from complaining and quickly get the work done so that we can go home and have dinner. Is there anything you would like to have tonight?"

"Forget about that, I'm skipping dinner tonight." Marlin replied while ignoring his sister's curious stare. "I'm going somewhere today."

"Where are you going?" Vesta asked, and then realised his intention. "I saw toy flowers on the kitchen counter, is it Andrea's…"

Vesta's voice trailed off, realising Galen was still in the store. Marlin did not breathe a single sound, quietly carrying the remaining sacks of fertilizers to the warehouse before leaving the store.

"Wait, aren't you going to clean up before going to see her?" Vesta stopped him at the door.

"It's not like she can smell me," Marlin let a small smile on his face. "I'd better get going then, see you later back at home."

Before Vesta could say anything else, Marlin greeted Galen a quick goodbye and leaved the store.

"How long it's been already?" Galen asked as Vesta sighed, plopping down a chair beside her. "Was it four years?"

Vesta nodded. "How can I forget? It's Andrea's death anniversary today. I should have known…"

"There, there…" Galen gave Vesta a comforting pat on her shoulders. "Don't blame yourself for forgetting, like you had said it's been four years already. I believed Marlin wouldn't blame you either."

Dropping the badly stink work shirt into the laundry, Marlin slipped into a clean white shirt before picking up toy flowers from the kitchen counter and headed out of the house.

He could always trust Claire to have toy flowers during summer and winter, and touched at the rancher's gesture after finding out that she would grow the a patch of the flowers in her greenhouse during the said seasons, neatly tied it up into a beautiful bouquet just for him.

"Tell Andrea I said hi," the rancher smiled before handing the bouquet over to him earlier in the morning.

Upon reaching his destination, Marlin bent down near the grave and removed all the weeds around it before laying down the fresh toy flowers on top of the grave. His expressions softened as he gently touched the tombstone, smiling towards it.

"Hello there, I missed you today."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Goodness, how long had it been? I'm sorry for almost more than year of delay after my computer crashed. I actually started penning back this story two months ago, but I was so out of idea that I actually play a round of the game and started writing back. Hopefully, my grammar and writing is not as terrible as I thought it to be. Enjoy reading and do leave some comments for me. :)


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